It has been a long wait but Star Trek: The Next Generation is finally on iTunes. The first season was added today – in HD. More details on that, plus a round-up of all the Star Trek: TNG and Enterprise home video Blu-ray release info for March and April.

Star Trek: TNG Season 1 Now on iTunes

For years the sole Star Trek series that wasn’t available on iTunes for digital download was Star Trek: The Next Generation. That changed today with the release of the first season of the show, available for download in both HD (720 and 1080) and Standard Def. Season 1 costs $69.99 in HD with individual episodes costing $2.99 each. The TNG available on iTunes is the same remastered version of the series which was released on Blu-ray last year. Presumably additional seasons will be added to iTunes some time after their release on Blu-ray. Visit iTunes to get your HD TNG Season 1.

TNG (Season 1) finally on iTunes

TNG HD Streaming on Hulu

Late last year CBS finally cut a deal with Hulu adding it to Netflix and Amazon Prime as streaming options for the entire Star Trek TV catalog. The Trek streaming started in January and like with Amazon and Netflix, the original Star Trek and Enterprise are available in HD. However, some readers have noticed that (unlike with Amazon and Netflix) the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation streaming are also streaming in HD.

Star Trek: The Next Generation on Hulu & Hulu Plus (first two seasons in HD)

For all of Star Trek on Hulu, the first season of each show is available for free streaming (with commercials), and additional seasons are only available with Hulu Plus which costs $7.99/month (and also has advertising). Visit the Star Trek page on Hulu for more info.

As for why Hulu is getting TNG in HD, it is possibly due to the fact that their deal with CBS was done late last year after the TNG HD project started. It is possible that if Netflix and Amazon extend (or append) their deals with CBS, that HD could be added to those services as well.

Season 1 of TNG on Blu-ray is available from Amazon currently for $67.97 and Season 2 is $71.97.

Reminder: Enterprise S1 Blu-ray March x & TNG S3 & Best of Both Worlds Blu-ray & screenings in April

There is a lot more Star Trek home video for March and April, so here are some reminders…

First up is the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise on Blu-ray, coming March 26th. The new set includes brand new special features and commentaries.

And on April 30th the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to Blu-ray. CBS continues their remastering of the series with what many feel to be one of the best seasons of the show. Like the previous two seasons, the new set is full of new special features.

And one final reminder that Star Trek: The Next Generation is getting another big screen event on Thursday April 25th with a showing of the two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds" at theaters nationwide (7:00 PM showings). The one-night only event will also include exclusive clips about the making of The Best of Both Worlds and Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3.

Comments

Can anyone tell me how the blu rays compare with these “HD” streams from these online companies? I’m tempted to buy them but if I can stream them and they look exactly the same then I might not buy them.

The iTunes downloads would be 1080p so should be the same. The streaming is all 720p so wont look as good, especially if your TV is big. And only Hulu has TNG in HD and they have commercials even if you pay the $8/m.

And of course with all the download or streaming versions you get no special features.

They won’t look exactly the same. The iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix versions, while technically 1080p, will be *much* more compressed than the Blu-ray versions leading to a less vibrant, lower fidelity output. The blu-ray editions also contain uncompressed audio tracks, which the download versions almost certainly do not contain.

Also keep in mind that as soon as a studio contract expires, content disappears from those services.

You know, I still think they are overpricing the seasons. That said, I may have to pick up ‘The Best of Both Worlds.’ That was an awesome 2-parter. I didn’t have to suffer like most did that summer–I missed the original broadcast of part 1 so I only had to wait a week. I don’t know if I could have handled the entire summer! :)

The first two seasons in HD on Hulu look far better than the old cruddy DVD transfers, but it’s not as good as Blu-ray. That said, as much as I am loving this remastering, and as much as I love Star Trek, I just cannot fork out the money again for this series right now, so I will enjoy it on Hulu.

Very cool. The low ratio of good re-watchable tNG episodes to yawn- inducing head scratchers prevents me from throwing down money on season sets. But packaging them on Hulu sounds like a great idea. Ill just watch the few I like and not spend a dime. Love it!

I have a question or two about the quality of the Season 2 Blu-ray. I purchased both Season 1 and Seaon 2 and a new Blu-ray player to watch them. Season 1 looks amazing. Sharp and clear and bright and rich color and detail. Many of the episodes from Season 2 are very “noisy” with a lot of digital noise and artifacting. (If these were photos, I would say someone had set the ISO to 6400 and took the photos in low light.)

I’ve set both my Blu-ray player and TV to soften the image and this helps somewhat, but there is a noticeable difference between Seasons 1 and 2.

#6 – You’re right, it’s the wrong Starfleet delta symbol. iTunes also messed up on the fonts, too – the parsing is off, most notably between the “S” and the “T” in “Star.” The letters should be snug together, as they are in the posters.

#6 & #19 – I think it’s safe to say that it’s not Apple / iTunes preparing art for the series pages in iTunes. It would be somebody related to Star Trek and CBS marketing. Which makes the logo error even more egregious.

Hey, that’s my brother doing the voiceover on the Fathom Events “Best of Both Worlds” trailer!

Hello all,
I was wondering where I could watch the re-mastered versions of Star Trek: The Next Generation in HD that CBS has been working on without buying the actual set. Of course, since this is my FAVORITE SERIES if it looks good I would certainly order the Blu-ray versions.
To my surprise neither NETFLIX nor BLOCKBUSTER had the HD re-mastered versions available for streaming. But guess who does??? Amazon.com Prime streaming service presently has Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) in HD re-mastered in SEASON 1 and SEASON 2 available now.
I must say… IT IS AWESOME TO SEE THE IMPROVEMENT VERSIONS THE OLD “GRAINY VCR” looks. The re-mastered digital effects for ship battles and other wonderful sci-fi effects are just plain AWESOME. They have certainly come alive!
It’s funny how you can see the makeup on the actors faces now – that’s one thing that I am sure they were trying to avoid. Data looks like a PIMPLE ALBINO SKUNK in the face or something at times (just kidding!)
CHECK IT OUT ON AMAZON.COM PRIME VIDEOS
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Premastered HD – Seasons 1 and 2)
I wonder when Season 3 will be on Amazon, and when will NETFLIX or BLOCKBUSTER catch up to Amazon? Any word on this would be appreciated.
BTW I heard there was a RECALL on the original Blu-ray’s released for Season 1 with I believe sound/audio problems – in which they need to be replaced. From my understanding – if you buy this box set in the store – there is no way to tell if you are buying the new (corrected/revised) box-set or the original (flawed) box set.